Looking For Adventure

They aren't all thrillseekers. In fact, by most comparisons,
WNBA players lead relatively tame and risk-free lives when they are not banging
into each other with full force on the basketball court. Yet, there are some that
live for adventure. We asked a few about the craziest things they've ever done.

Kristen Mann, Minnesota Lynx"Well, I have five
tattoos, including my latest on my back."

Becky Hammon, New York Liberty"I do some adventurous things. I do a lot
of scuba diving, like down in Cozumel, Mexico, I went actually night diving in
New England, very cold water, at night, visibility at about three inches, we had
flashlights we were diving for lobsters, you couldn't see you hand in frount of
your face, it was very scary because you can't tell what's up or down, left or
right, it's the blackest black you can possibly imagine, but we caught lots of
lobsters."

Sherill Baker, New York Liberty"I was in
7th grade.. and I didn't know how to swim . We went to water park in Florida and
I jumped into the wave pool. I didn't tell them I can't swim, so I then saw my
life flashing before my eyes. My teammates saved me."

Kristin Haynie,
Sacramento Monarchs"I am not really a risk-taker, but in high school,
I was member of a group called Young Life and in the summer, we went to these
camps and got to do some fun, risky things like hanging from these ropes and doing
these crazy obstacle courses. We also went parasailing and I hate water and heights,
so that definitely made me nervous. I ended up having a lot of fun."

Kara Lawson, Sacramento Monarchs"I am so not a taking chances kind of
person. But the craziest thing I want to do… I'd love to be able to skydive,
but I just couldn't do it. If I was ever to try skydiving, I think I would be
the one who ended up staying on the plane. I couldn't jump. I'm so afraid the
parachute wouldn't open."

Shameka Christon, New York Liberty"I
am really just cautious with my life, so I haven't done too much that you can
call crazy."

Debbie Merrill, Connecticut Sun"I'm from
a really small town and there was this hill that we used to drive down really
fast. You would hit this one part and you would kinda fly through the air in your
car. I was always the passenger and it was never in my car though."

Tamika Catchings, Indiana Fever "I'm a very simple person, and I don't really
do any experimenting or anything, but as far as something crazy, I really can't
think of anything I would do that's off the wall."

Ann Strother,
Phoenix Mercury"I'm scared of heights, so nothing too crazy. I like
to travel. All for basketball. Last summer, two of my friends went to London and
Dublin, wandered around."

Tamara James, Washington Mystics"I
sort of did a bungee jump. It was more in a parabola shape, but I thought I was
gonna die. It was right after my high school graduation."

Ruth Riley, Detroit Shock"It might be China. It's a little unfair because
that's a place where I actually got to sightsee and go around, I wasn't there
to play hoops it was with the NBA China Games, it was so much fun, it was amazing,
with Beijing, Shanghai, getting to see the Great Wall, and Tiananmen Square."

Barbara
Turner, Seattle Storm"Riding roller coasters. I'm terrified of heights
and we went to Six Flags this past summer. I got on coaster and thought I'd pass
out. I won't be doing it again soon."

LaToya Bond, Charlotte Sting"One
of my friends was trying to get me to go sky diving. I'm thinking about it."

Teresa
Weatherspoon, WNBA legend"I did an event with Sports Illustrated
and we were actually climbing the mountains, and I'd never done it before. I never
climb mountains, and I was like where are we going? We're climbing and climbing
and climbing, we weren't using any ropes, we were just walking up the mountain,
and I thought this is so fun. We were somewhere in California, in a real small
area, and we did so many activities, and they actually had us doing something
of a bungee jump, and I thought I was going to die and when they released me,
you're kind of released in a swing like a whom you went so far and then you came
back, I thought I was dead. And I would never do it again. It was the scariest,
craziest thing I have ever done, there were so many activities, as far as climbing
up you would get on top of this thing and you have to reach for this rope without
falling over, but if you fell over you were still tied, you weren't going to hurt
yourself, but it was just too high for me to try to do something like that and
I did it, and I kind of thought about it later, right before they were going to
let me go, I thought I'm not doing it, but I had to do it because I was on a team,
and I could not let my team down, and I was not gonna do it. So I reached over
there and grabbed it and I beat that person because I was so afraid."

Brooke Wyckoff, Chicago Sky"One night I was out with Katie Douglas and we
went downtown and I got my tongue and belly button pierced. Though, I do not have
my tongue pierced anymore."

Coco Miller, Washington Mystics"I
love running mountains and that sort of things, and some of them are pretty steep,
there's not much room on the ledge, so I guess that's pretty adventurous. There's
two in Arizona, one is Camelback, which is two miles to the top, that just has
a small railing on the edge, and Squall Peak, it's pretty brutal, it's about a
mile to the top, but it's pretty steep. It's a great workout. I grew up in Minnesota,
but I went to Arizona, I had a sister who lived there, and that just became part
of my training regimen, running the mountains, and I think that helped with my
speed a lot."

Alexis Kendrick, Charlotte Sting"The
only thing that comes to mind, when we were seniors in high school at the WBCA
All-Star Game in Connecticut. We were so hungry afterwards, scrounging for food,
so we hopped in a car with a guy who took us to get something eat. We didn't even
know the guy. It was not smart and no one should ever do that."